


Piece yourself together

by Coils



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Body bonding (UT ghosts), Emotional Support, F/F, living doll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 02:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17758283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coils/pseuds/Coils
Summary: Maddy the Mad ghost fights her way through some body issues with the help of some unexpected friends.





	1. Scattered

                The freezing wind mercilessly howled, as a particularly dark and chilly evening in Snowdin‘s wilderness advised most of its inhabitants to stay in their comfy homes and burrows. Donning a quaint, miniature parka, Shyren hovered along the surface of the gelid Snowdin river, leaving a trail of ripples between the floating ice chunks. It was clear the poor timid thing did not dare even dip her delicate flippers in those pitch-black waters. With a cheerful smile, she hummed a glamorous tune in an exquisite pitch, making sharp, agile turns between the floating drifts. Suddenly, a rapidly approaching blur called her attention, obstructed her vision, and ultimately, slapped her face rather soundly.

_“O-Owwwww…”_ Softly moaned the faint-hearted diva, holding her diminutive fins to her shaking face. She turned around; her foggy eyes scanning the water in search of whatever had bonked her. She began swimming backwards, squinting her eyes at a rapidly escaping piece of debris, especially hard to distinguish in the dark. After a while chasing after it, she eventually got close enough to touch it. She rubbed it with her flippers, handling its squishy, dainty, rubbery digits… a plastic hand? From a female mannequin? … With cat claws? No wonder it had produced such a perfect clapping sound upon clashing against Shyren’s face. Confused as to who could have discarded a life-sized doll’s hand in a river, she grasped it by the wrist, continuing her swim against the stream, into the direction it had floated from. As her drift forward continued, the wind only seemed to grow harsher and stronger, forcing her to fasten her coat’s hood, and sometimes, press the palm of the disembodied hand against her face. Its texture was initially squishy, but underneath a layer of that rubber-like material, there were some bone-hard solid structures to effectively keep its shape.  It came, without a doubt, from a pretty delicately crafted mannequin, but other than its gender and feline nature not much else was clear about it. The answer to all of Shyren’s questions arrived after roughly three minutes of upstream flutter. Lounging on the trunk of a lone, forlorn pine tree sat a ghastly figure. It appeared to be humanoid, although no monsters who walked on two legs were able to twist and bend their knees that way, let alone detach one of them. As well as one of their arms. Convinced this mysterious apparition was unanimated, Shyren edged closer with as much care and doubt as she approached everything else in life. Her blood then froze solid as the head on the mannequin turned towards her in an unnatural, jerky manner, causing her to gasp and drop the hand on the snow. The doll’s neck clacked again, as it surveyed the hand on the ground, its green eyes glistening with the reflection of what little light survived this snowstorm.

Even in this frigid weather, Shyren’s dread was contributing a lot more to her trembling than whatever little cold she could feel in such a tense situation. However, for some reason, she reached down, picked up the lone extremity with her weak, jittery flippers, then presented it to the phantasmagorical figure. _“E-e-e-excuse me! I-I-…I think you dropped this!”_ Braving both the elements and her own qualms, the frightful fish floated closer to the figure, which appeared more defined by the second. Its petite, graceful demeanour revealed itself, as did an overwhelming amount of pink in its attire. The missing arm of this flabbergasting creature was indeed lacking one of its hands, a crumpled up glove laying close by. Its cat-like face shifted from a dead-eyed look of lethargic faintness to a slightly nostalgic, forlorn grimace, making its beautiful green eyes regain some lustre, as sulky as they appeared. When the unanimated mannequin spoke with an acute, echoing voice, Shyren backed off again.

_“Shyren? Is that you, Shyren? I haven’t seen you in ages…”_ Still afraid but even more curious, the dawdling fish halted her retreat, leaning forward and closing the distance between her and the discarded talking doll. There was something very familiar about that voice. Something she remembered from her past.  Shyren raised an eyebrow, as Mew Mew Kissy Cutie’s overly cloying and bright attire nearly made her eyes cry from the stark contrast with the penumbra-covered blizzard.

_“Are… are you… a ghost? Wait! Are you Blooky’s cousin? What was your name… Maddington? Maddison?”_ Shyren, having grown considerably less intimidated, fanned herself with the hand as she reminisced about her life in Waterfall and the peculiar, colourful family of spectres she was neighbours with. A sudden burst of icy wind caused her to drop the disembodied paw again, running towards the safety and cover the tree provided. With an eerie, twitchy, clattering jitter, the derelict doll’s eyes became a sad, empty shade of emerald, and her expression regained its lifelessness.

_“My name is garbage. I don’t know why I ever bothered to set foot outside that trash dump. Leave me alone, Shyren. You can throw that stupid paw back in the water for all I care.”_ As the possessed doll slumped back into the tree, the arm still attached to her torso snapped off, sliding off her sleeve and landing on the ground, naked save for its glove. The definite tone of her words made Shyren grow immensely concerned. The ghost girl really sounded as if it was a bad idea to press her further. In the past, Shyren would have without a doubt let her be, too frightened of what they would have answered for meddling in their business, growing discouraged, driven away. But her recent experiences had shown her that’s when people need help the most. Even if this particular spectre, unlike the now familiar Mettaton and Napstablook, evoked intense memories of loud screams, flying debris and sharp objects. The yellow, eternally frowning ghost had never appeared the friendliest to her on the past, but she at least had to try talking to her.

_“But… no…! What’s wrong? What are you even doing here, in that body? Is there something wrong with it?...”_ As Shyren came close to Maddy, she realized how cold and lifeless her body was. It was as if she was just a chunk of ice among the snow, whereas Mettaton’s metallic hide and even Blooky’s spectral body seemed to emanate a faint, warm aura. As her barren emerald eyes fixated on the howling river, the spectral marionette spoke with a grave, deadpan tone.

_“I can’t bond with it. At all. I’m even having trouble keeping the joints together... it’s getting too difficult. I thought it would be enough to stop picking fights but… turns out I’m just not a good fit for a nice body like this. Guess I’m just too rotten. So I’m going to stay here where nobody can see me fall apart again. Go away.”_ The blizzard seemed to be intensifying by the minute, parts of the Mew Mew doll clattering in the wind. Witnessing this wretched display took Shyren’s poor sensitive heart to a place it had not been for a while now. A place full of shame and loneliness, where all she could do was watch herself sink deeper and deeper, with little to do but to accept your misery was all your fault. Your fate. The miniature mermaid had no control over her eyes when they started to fog up with tears. Doing that to herself had been a waste of time. No one deserved to go through it. However, she was not her own prisoner anymore. All it took for her to swim through those murky waters was a tiny, uncompromising push. She did the rest. And as far as she knew, so could anyone. She rubbed her teary eyes, cleared her throat and tried to assert herself, determined and full of resolve.

_“P-pull yourself together!”_ The pristine Mew Mew face, twisted into a true stone mask of an icy stare stuck itself into Shyren’s direction, who upon being confronted by those vacant, sad eyes began staring at the ground, misty-eyed. _“Listen Maddy… I-I don’t know exactly what you’ve been up to that’s left you this way… but!”_ Her face rose towards the depressed spectre, a timid but warm and hopeful smile on it. _“I know someone who went what you’re going through right now! And I assure you, he had his low points. So I’m sure he’d be happy to lend you a hand! Come with me. Let me give him a call and take you somewhere warm. I’m sure we can fix whatever’s wrong with that body…”_ Shyren reached for her cell phone, turning it on and displaying it in the mad ghost’s direction, who glanced aside. Her doll eyes jittered open and shut in such a sudden, unnatural manner, Shyren cringed with fear yet again.

_“You just don’t get it do you…?”_ The mannequin face opened its cat eyes as wide as it could, the difficult, wistful expression twisting itself into the default smile the figure came with. A weightless yellow mist, unaffected by the wind, began to emanate from its mouth, ears and neckhole. A disembodied voice spoke as, Mew Mew’s remaining body crumbled down in a particularly sad and noisy display. _“…It’s not that there’s something wrong with the body… or that I’m doing anything wrong.”_ Leaking out of her former head, Maddy’s lemon-coloured spiritual mass materialized, clinging to its recipient, saw-like teeth trembling with impotence, beady eyes already cascading with oversized tears. _“I am what’s wrong. I am wrong. Wrong. And none of your stupid friends can change that. Go away!”_ Upon touching the snow beneath, the thick teardrops formed crater-like gaps in it, fizzling out into foul-smelling puffs of noxious vapour. Shyren covered her mouth with her trembling fins, saddened and gut-wrenched.

_“No! No!! Stop that! You’re only making it worse! My friend can help, I swear! Just stop crying like that, please… y-you’re not Blooky…”_ Maddington groaned and sniffled, shooting a wide-eyed glare at the tiny mermaid. The ghost’s tears slowed down to a crawl, then stopped. Every single pink hair on Mew Mew’s beautiful mane stood on end. Something already told Shyren what a pointless, unhelpful remark that had been.

_“What was that?!”_ The increasingly furious spirit hovered closer and closer to Shyren, eyes widening in a frown. _“Do I need that mopey bedsheet’s permission to do whatever I want?! Or is it wrong when I cry too? Don’t I even get that?! I thought it was being mad all the time that was wrong!! You… Why don’t you stop making me repeat myself and GO AWAY?!”_ With each word uttered, Maddy’s menacing mouth seemed to grow a new set of canines, and from within them came a more distorted, sinister voice. Understandably stricken with sheer terror at the already unpredictable ghost becoming more aggressive in front of her timid self, Shyren held the hood of her coat tighter, close to breaking down in tears herself, visibly terrified.

_“…Please, Maddy, calm down… it’s not worth it… don’t get so angry at nothing…”_ She cooed with a shaky, weak tone. The angry spirit’s body quaked with ire, seemingly distorting itself in every direction, expanding and contracting in indescribable, ghastly ways.

_“WHY THE HECK NOT?! APPARENTLY THAT’S ALL I’M GOOD FOR!! WHY ARE YOU STILL BOTHERING ME WITH YOUR POINTLESS GOODY-TWO-SHOES ACT, YOU REPUGNANT, TONE-DEAF, SLIMY, WORHTLESS…!!”_ A single tear flowed down Shyren’s sorrow-filled eyes, as she shook the phone in front of Maddington’s face, interrupting the hurtful diatribe. Her feeble voice raised to an anemic high pitch, above the ghost’s crass hollers.

_“Shut up! Stop it! I just want to help you! It would take nothing! It’s better than wallowing in your misery like this, why don’t you just take it?! You have nothing to lose! Just trust me and my friend! Let me help you!!”_ Shyren gasped as Maddy slapped her phone away with the lifeless head, and then hovered so close to her. The nervous naiad felt the void in those fuming eyes burning a hole in her soul.

_“Oh yeah?! If it’s so easy, then GO HELP YOUR SISTER!!!”_ The broken-hearted fish choked between sobs, closing her eyes and gritting her fangs. Maddington wavered in place, palpitating, already regretting the hideous, cowardly remark, barked on a furious impulse. Shyren inhaled between grief-stricken bawling, and like a beautifully blaring high note, let out a sonic screech, blasting Maddington and the Mew Mew head into a tree. The impact made one of the bell-shaped hairclips shatter in a million shards against the yellow spectral mass. One of Kissy Cutie’s pigtails came undone and spread atop Maddy’s shocked, trembling shape, who still clung telepathically to the discarded, smiling noggin. Shyren huffed and moaned, wiping her eyes with her stubby flippers. When she regained her composure, she retrieved her cell phone off the ground.

_“I hope… I hope that’s all you needed to get off your chest. Now, sit there and…and please let me call my friend.”_ Appearing distant, Shyren tapped the phone keys without a word, its bleeping the only thing that broke the ponderous silence. Even the howling blizzard seemed to have mellowed out. Having not moved an inch since the magical blast, the yellow phantom whined in an impassive tone.

_“But why? Don’t you see how pointless this is? I’ve tried to fuse for so long… That body... it’s all about love, compassion, and friendship…”_ Maddy’s tear ducts opened up yet again, a stark contrast to the dissonantly calm and lifeless expression on her face. _“How can you not get it after what I said? What would someone as wretched as me know about those nice things?”_ Shyren sighed and sniffled, slipping the cellphone against her temple, under her hair.

_“I forgive you, if you just let me help you. Please hush for now… my friend will know what to do in your state…”_ The destitute ghost remained silent, doing her best to subdue her bawling. Meanwhile, whoever Shyren was calling answered the phone, as she covered the speaker with her fin. _“Hello! It’s me. I’m in Snowdin… and I’ve got someone who needs your help here… A ghost, yes. They… they seem to be having a very hard time even keeping their body in place. I think there’s something wrong here… You think you can come give them a hand?”_ The petite siren’s hair wobbled as she nodded, her eyes, as red from crying as they still were, appearing serious and determined. _“Ah…yes. Okay. I will. I’ll get that. Uh-huh… Got it…”_ The blond-tinted ghost rested her back against the tree, still holding the Mew Mew’s head in her grasp. Both their eyes peered into her altruistic benefactor’s direction. _“Yes… I’ll do my best. Thank you so much, Metty… We’ll be waiting for you there.”_ Shyren rubbed her still misty eyes as she hung up. Eyes shut; she hovered close to Maddy, then took a deep breath. Murmuring to the perturbed phantom in a soothing, deep tone, she grabbed the mannequin head’s squishy silicone cheeks. _“Okay, Maddington. I need you to think about something, and I need you to focus. Did you ever look into a mirror while you were in that body?”_ The tearful spectre dipped her head in agreement.

_“Yes… I did that…”_ She blurted out, still sniffling. This prompted a warm smile on Shyren’s serene visage.

_“That’s great… Now. Consider this. Did doing that made you think… that body was you? Did you see yourself when you saw that face in the mirror? This is important. Did you ever have that thought?”_ Still twitching from all the crying, the lemon-like spirit held her eyes wide open in hypnotically perfect ovals. The life sized Mew Mew action figure, in turn, began closing its.

_“Yes…yes I did! I thought that a lot! It felt… it felt…”_ Shyren shushed Maddy before she had a chance to resume her weeping.

_“Yes, yes! Good! Perfect! Now… possess your head again. And focus on those feelings with all your might. It doesn’t matter how hard it is. I don’t care how unfit you think you are for your body. Force yourself if you have to. Repeat it in your head over and over again. I just want you to make that body yours right now… go back to when you were looking at yourself in the mirror. Do it, Maddy. Do it!“_ Somewhere along Shyren’s little motivational speech, Maddington broke down in tears yet again. She closed her eyes and reminisced. She did remember Shyren as a particularly sweet, if bashful little guppy, sympathizing with her over how lonely she looked at times, crying to her sister over every little thing. To think she grew up to be such a compassionate soul, who even after being trampled over by her would still be holding her between her warm flippers, cheering her on... This undeserved, warm display of empathy moved her beyond tears. She simply had never known such kindness before… and when her tears allowed her to open her eyes, she found herself staring right at Shyren’s beaming, smiling face through Mew Mew’s own. The catgirl’s face resumed bawling, a thin clear trail slipping off her eyelids. The fact that, even at her most desperate hours she had never managed to shed a single tear directly through those eyes filled her with hope, even if the realization had come from such a sorrowful place. The guilt over the horrible things she had shouted at her earlier made her feel incredibly undeserving, yet it was all too comforting to simply renounce to it. Her spectral form was nowhere to be seen, entirely compacted inside this adorable vessel, and she was taking all of her focus just to not lose control. So, her impulse to hug Shyren as hard as her strength allowed her simply translated into a timid forehead bump.

_“Even after those horrible things I said to you… Thank you… thank you… thank you…”_ She sobbed. Shyren rubbed her cheeks and patted her head, holding back some bawling of her own, beyond blissful she had not made the wrong call. If only for this short burst of happiness, helping this poor soul through her fear and her insecurities had been worth it so far. _“But…but… it felt so… so hard to keep the joints together before… I think I broke it somehow! I don’t think this body is even…”_ Whimpered Maddy, only to yet again be cut short by Shyren’s reassuring whispers.

_“Stop, Maddy. And don’t call it that. You have to call it ‘my body’. It is yours. Everything is going to be okay, I promise. And forget what you said. Forget what you were. We’re going to do everything we can for you. Now, listen to me… I want you to try to reach out the rest of your body… I know a very warm place to take you to.”_


	2. Gathered

The bitter, icy winds of this lonely dark evening seemed to have given Snowdin’s inhabitants a merciful respite at this late hour, but after hours of relentless blizzard, it simply was too late for leisure. Main Street was as empty and lonely as it had been for hours, everybody having remained in the coddling warmth of their comfy homes and burrows for quite some time. Usually bustling with activity at this time, Grillby’s pub was no exception, its usual cavalcade of noisy patrons too busy fighting the freezing weather next to their cosy fireplaces. However, even in a night like this, the lights inside shone through the windows and the “Open” sign welcomed any potential customers with alcohol or fried food-related needs. Or it would have, if a crude, flame retardant plate with the words “Back in five minutes” orderly scribbled in it wasn’t sticking out of the sign, blocking it from view. But as it turns out, the owner had been gone for way longer than five minutes, currently occupied tending to a very special sort of guest.

Mad Mew Mew’s lifeless body and her very much lively head lay neatly sprawled in pieces across Grillby’s kitchen work table, joints and limbs arranged as to form her intended, humanoid shape. Her would be sensitive bits were covered with a plaid-patterned cloth, which had not seen use covering tables in years. Her finely detailed, feminine toes stuck out from its end. Assisted by Shyren, she had hauled the Kissy Cutie body she intended to make her own through the treacherous tundra, seeking refuge in Grillby’s establishment, who was currently very unoccupied, and agreed to lend his warm abode to the struggling pair. A hospitable quiet place like this had really come in handy for them, since unfortunately, Maddy’s integrity problem had yet to be ironed out. Holding her body together felt like flexing an achy, atrophied muscle; and for some reason they could not even rely on the locks and slots the joints possessed to hold the doll together. She was still right where she started, and as such, not in the brightest of moods yet. Her large and expressive emerald doll eyes appeared fatigued and slightly uneasy. But she at least had graduated from sobbing and lashing out to sighing, a vast improvement over the pit of despair she had recently crawled out of, thanks to a certain someone who had made a huge difference. Despite Shyren’s absence, the thought of the helping fin she had offered her kept Maddy going through the uncertainty. A vestigial smile slightly untwisted her forlorn mug as she looked down at the chunks of what Shyren had insisted she referred to as ‘her body’ at all times. All of her clothes had to be removed and taken care of to avoid them being further spoiled by the cold, so she, by all intents and purposes was, completely naked. Even her hair was loose in a beautiful, lofty pink mane. The bashful mermaid had grown incredibly flustered at the sight of her bare plastic armour, despite her doll-like, featureless skin, quite insistent on the need to cover the scandalous display. Even as out of tune with the doll she currently felt, Shyren had never stopped acting as if the voluptuous rubber body was entirely her responsibility, never doubting it belonged to her. ‘Cover yourself!’ the feeble fish had cooed, glancing aside in her fluttery stupor.

As silly as this scene had been, remembering it soothed Mad Mew with a warm mix of endearment, flattery and confidence. Like a lone discarded jigsaw piece having found its match, she believed if there was a single someone in this hateful world capable of cheering her up, it had to be Shyren. This thought alone had kept the wistful spirit from bursting yet again into tears, or worse, another destructive fit of rage.

As the kitchen’s door clicked and creaked open, Maddy’s cat ears twitched. All of her body pieces clattered as she glanced over to the gate, her spectral matter calling out to the rest of her body, but unfortunately failed to accomplish much. As a gentlemanly waiter with his head aflame walked into the kitchen, the ghost girl’s face yet again dropped into a sombre grimace. She sighed. Taking control of so many separate fragments at once took an excessively large toll on her to maintain for too long, and whatever was wrong with her body was certainly not cooperating. Oblivious to the subtle changes in his guest’s face, Grillby graciously set Mew Mew Kissy Cutie’s clothes onto a female dummy he had procured, then turned on the kitchen stove, presumably to let them dry. Maddington was not one for dramatic irony, but even if she were, she still would have felt the need to thank her burning benefactor.

 _“Hmmm… thanks a lot for letting us use your kitchen, Mister… er…”_ She rolled her eyes as they opened wide, realising in embarrassment she did not have even a slight inkling of how to refer to the kindled cavalier; as Shyren had simply left in a hurry after whispering him some instructions, leaving her in his care. The more she thought about it and failed to come up with something, the more caricaturesque the flabbergasted grimace on her disembodied head became. _“…Mister…Flames…Mc…Guy?”_ Grillby dusted his hands and stretched his back, then faced the ghostly cat girl, emitting a distinct crackling noise with some hints of mumbling. Maddy was uncertain if this quiet fizzling was supposed to be speech or not. Her confused grin kept morphing into a wider, more desperate expression as her doubt grew, the intense urge to shrug failing her in this fragmentary state, translating into her cat ears flattening against the top of her head. Once Grillby finished his presumed speech, Maddy simply nodded and let out a nervous chuckle, too afraid to answer. She glanced aside as sneakily as she could, trying to find a way out the mildly awkward situation. As unlikely as an escape route seemed among the shiny, surprisingly well-kept cooking utensils employed in the spacious kitchen, a miraculous beacon of hope and interest unwarped Mad Mew Mew’s expression into a smile, genuine interest in her gleaming eyes. _“Oh, wait those are…”_ She had spotted the magnetic knife rack, to which every shape imaginable of kitchen blade stuck, conveniently displayed. Right beneath it, on a cutting board lay several onions, some half-sliced, and some whole. Her brow furrowed, an enthusiastic toothy grin adorning her disembodied head. _“…some righteous knives! Mind if I try them out, Flame dude?”_ Grillby waved an enthusiastic ‘thumbs up’ her way, taken aback by the sudden display of interest and high spirits.

The animated feline noggin hovered off the improvised operating table, her yellowish spectral mass oozing out in not-quite visible tentacle-like pulses. She straightened the board and retrieved the majestic, 8-inch piece of stainless steel perfection that was the chef’s knife; crown jewel of every set, joy of every cook. She closed one of her cat-like eyes as she rotated the blade in every direction, inspecting every nook and cranny; then stuck her tongue out in concentration as she sloppily cut one of the half-sliced onions into an uneven ring. She groaned, scowling exasperatedly, then tried again, to very similar results, the blade taking an unusually long time to pierce the feeble vegetable. At the same time, for some reason, her catgirl paws began audibly clattering atop the kitchen table she had been set in. Maddy shook her head, calling out for Grillby.

 _“Um… Torchman? This knife is duller than dump water. When was the last time you sharpened it? Honestly…”_ Her frowning eyes surveyed the knife rack, examining all of the edges, one by one. “They all look so dull… what a crime! Where is your sharpener, even?!” Almost entirely ignoring her remark, Grillby took notice of something. As she scouted around with her emerald eyes and psychically rummaged the kitchen table in look of the sharpening rod; Mew Mew’s disembodied hands hovered off the table, their fingers jittering in the air. The fiery fellow followed them with his stoic eyes as they landed on the table Maddington was searching, palpating the flat surface where her eyes set sight. She encountered the sharpener after randomly sliding her fingers behind a sink, then held it up in the air like a war trophy. Her feline fangs glistening in a appeased smirk. _“A-ha! At least you have the decency to own one.”_ The dainty, feminine fingers of her right hand clasped the chef knife’s handle and began to rub it sideways against the sharpener; in turn firmly grasped by her right hand in an impeccably professional way. She was so engrossed in her task, the fact she had been able to reach to her body’s extremities with barely a thought hardly crossed her mind. “See here, Burning Baron… if you don’t sharpen your knives, you might as well be using your teeth to bit stuff in chunks... look!”

Maddington triumphantly held the newly sharpened chef’s knife above her simpering head, the sharp sheen so intense and blinding Grillby could almost hear it. _“Heh heh heh… now, for some quality chopping!”_ Her left paw tapped one of the onions her way, stopping midway through the cooking board. She carefully grasped the knife handle, blade wrapped between her index and thumb; and as per standard precautions, she hugged the cheek of the knife to her opposite index finger, to avoid incidents. In a single, clean chop, she divided the onion in half, with such finesse and grace, it split into two perfect, identical fractions. Maddy raised her eyebrows, emitting a satisfied, almost moan-like coo. _“Yes. Yes! YES!! What a clean cut… very balanced blade!”_ Flipping one of the halves aside, her paws began to work quickly and diligently, combining horizontal and vertical cuts into a flurry, which spewed diced onion bits aside. Her smirk widened and widened into an almost manic smile, fangs glistening like daggers. _“Nyahahahaha! I feel alive!”_ The embers on top of Grillby’s head bobbed as he nodded, scratching his chin.

Being left with a fully diced onion in matter of seconds, Maddy was about to tackle another one; but as she surveyed her surroundings, she noticed the half-open door, out of which peeked Shyren, silently watching her with an incredulous, almost frightened-looking chagrin. The ghostly feline almost dropped her knife from the shock and embarrassment alone.

 _“A-aaah! Sh-Shyren! You’re back! It’s… I was just trying these! Did I do something wrong?”_ The miniature mermaid gulped and blushed, noticing how rude of her had been to watch in silence. She also internally debated how to feel about watching Maddy shift between misery to cackling like a maniac as she obliterating vegetables. A burst of positive thinking in the back of her head advised she should be glad of her new friend’s high spirits, so she simply smiled, pushing the door and revealing a rather heavy-looking bag in her fins.

 _“N-not at all! You just… sure seemed alive, is all! Heheh… Good thing you can at least use your hands without trouble…”_ Mad Mew Mew distantly contemplated her left hand, pupils expanding, as she opened and closed her adorable paws, thick kitty fingers wobbling.

 _“Huh… I guess I can! Whaddaya know…”_ Shyren graciously beamed, setting her carry-on atop a chair, its not very solid-looking contents slightly smudging. She removed the hood of her parka, comfortably sighing as her angler and hair bounced free for the first time that night.

 _“Now Maddy… please get back in the table. I met my friend earlier! He’s getting ready right now. He told me he’s pretty sure of what’s going on with your body, and that he’s going to need you to merge with it as deep as you can, so if you don’t mind…”_ The feline phantom complied with a nod, depositing the knife back into the sink. Her mitts and noggin hovered to the table where her body rested, each sliver fitting with the others like a puzzle piece. She cleared her throat a, slightly glum expression on her face, and addressed Shyren without daring looking at her, filled with guilt and uneasiness still.

 _“L-listen Shyren… about that thing I said about your sister…”_ The timid fish groaned and gritted her fangs in frustration in such an exaggerated manner, Maddy knew better than to stop talking that instant. Shyren was more exasperated than angry, so when she tried to sound mad, the result was a squeaky, annoyed tone.

 _“If you don’t stop making me think about that, I’ll actually get angry about it! Just shush and do your best to hold yourself together. My friend is going to be here any second, you need to be at your best. C’mon. Focus!”_ Mad Mew Mew closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her spectral pulses began leaking out of her head into the table, flowing into the anthropomorphic shape she desired to take. Every joint of her body rattled, the trepidation making her groan and scrunch her face. Her renewed desire, her stubborn determination, and all of her spunk and ardor were focused into taking hold of what she wanted and making it hers. Her pained expression certainly did not paint this as a menial task. Expanding her ectoplasm through the gaps of several tiny bodies that seemed to reject each other, while trying to tie them together in unity required such a huge amount of concentration, it strained her very essence. It hurt. The mannequin parts appeared to tremble and quiver in unison like a normal body would have, but Maddy’s anguish was almost palpable.

Unable to ignore her pain and discomforted by her groans, Shyren hovered closer, tightly hugging one of her quaking paws. Her touch was so much warmer than back in the river. The timid naiad hoped with all her heart they could make that warmth last. She felt incredibly determined to keep cheering this lost soul on. Help her find her place in the world, like she had. _“I’m right here with you, Maddy! Don’t give up! You can do it! You deserve this!”_ This small gesture eased Maddington’s struggling mind, like a hand holding her own through the darkness. Her laboured, pitiful breathing slightly composed itself, a single tear flowing down her fluttering cheek. The trembling of her body grew more intense as she struggled to get into a sitting position. Shyren flinched backwards. _“M-Maddy! T-take it easy, if you don’t…”_ Her face’s turquoise hue slowly blended into a crimson red. She gasped as the ghostly catgirl’s blanket slipped from her shoulders and fell on her lap, revealing her featureless bare chest, shapely cushions of her fake bosom exposed. Maddy’s dainty arm racketed as she wiped her tears off, shooting a flushing smile in Shyren’s direction.

 _“I’m… I’m just so grateful to you, Shyren… You are… you are such a nice person … thank you…”_ Cooed the animated animatronic in a wavering but overjoyed tone. For some reason, Shyren’s poor, impressionable heart began rapidly beating. Perhaps it was the fact this person she was so adamant in helping, even during such colossal struggles, took the extra effort to remind her of how much she appreciated her kindness; staring at her with those perfect, beautiful teary emeralds she had for eyes. Or perhaps it was the sight of her idealized, pristinely sculpted female form, vulnerably blushing, displaying her bare intense emotions before her. Perhaps it simply was the plethora of untamed, dazzling pink locks crowning her head along with her fluffy, quivering cat ears, glimmering her eyes off. Whatever it was, Maddy’s current state awakened something inside Shyren. Something primal and gentle. Something both uncomfortable, and extremely comfortable. Something that made her feel the shyest she had ever been, but also the boldest. Appearing more like a hovering tomato than any kind of sea creature, Shyren covered her gasping gawker with her flippers, emitting a continuous, confused gurgle-like groan. The timid mermaid made several attempts at speech, fearing the storm of butterflies inside her tiny stomach was going to make her burst from the inside if she opened her mouth. She saw no other way out of this sweet peril but to remove it from her sight, so she dashed towards Maddy; pulling the blanket up to her feminine shoulders again, securing it as tightly as she could.

 _“Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-WHAT are you doing you idiot? C-c-c-c-c-c-c-co-co-co-COVER yourself! Th-th-th-there’s a gentleman in the room!”_ Wheezed Shyren. Grillby, who had been inspecting Maddy’s cutting handiwork, turned around as if he had been absent for the last five minutes, inquisitively pointing to himself in confusion.

Unexpectedly, a room-shaking clanking noise thundered over the thoughts and actions of everybody present, an eerie rumbling subsequently echoing along the walls for a few seconds. Came the second crash, Maddington’s head jostled in several directions, her eyes comically widening and shaking. The third impact made Shyren cling harder to her friend’s shoulders, whispering a barely audible “Oh no…”. The fourth crash made cups and dishes shake and bob inside their cupboards, Grillby holding several rotating bottles in place with calculated taps. As the rhythmical thudding continued unaltered, Maddy’s trembling arms finally managed to shrug, some sweat on her nervous grimace. Shyren growled, rapidly hovering towards the door with a desperate expression. _“No, no, no, not here! There’s an open door! Why does he always have to-“_ The flapping chime of the tablecloth dropping to the floor made her look back and stop, realizing Mad Mew Mew’s lay buck naked on the table; the cover having slipped without her steady grip. Even before she was finished blurting out the fizzling, mortified gawk she reacted at that sight with, she was already desperately pushing the blanket against Maddy’s face; her feet peeking from beneath the shaky cover. The metallic cacophony grew in intensity and frequency, everybody bracing themselves for the worst.

Out of the blue, the horrifying noises simply halted, a gentle knock on the kitchen’s door providing a jarring, underwhelming climax to the infernal racket. Grillby passively made his way towards the door as Shyren, squeaking in desperation, bandaged the cloth around Maddy’s chest, trying to tie it around her like a bath towel. The possessed Mew Mew figure’s face was conjuring the most confused expression it could have physically accommodated. The red-hot waiter flippantly opened the door, letting in a calculator-like creature amidst a confetti blizzard. It waved its wobbly, tube-like arms triumphantly; a nurse dress and cap having somehow been stuck to its rectangular structure.

_“GOOD EVENING, BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTY! HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR SOME JOINT THERAPY!”_


	3. Assembled

As blaring as they used to be, the howling winds of this dark, chilly night had been quiet for long enough for Snowdin’s inhabitants’ curiosity to defeat their need to comfy up on their homes and burrows. Several lit lights and open curtains marked sets of prying eyes, dying to see what all that hullaballoo was about, but not quite brave enough to slip themselves off their blankets, or leave the warmth of their heaters. The centre of their attention was Grillby’s establishment, the local pub. Not the quiet glow of its lamps, a usual sight even in such an inhospitable night, but rather the outsider that had graced them with his noisy, flamboyant presence. A presence very few slumbers were been deep enough to survive.

After his triumphant entrance, one that no recap or flashback could ever do justice, Mettaton stood in the door’s edge, feeling as if he had walked into the wrong stage. Met with utter silence, he sheepishly secured his nurse hat. What was up with this audience reaction? Where was the cheering of his name? The clapping in his behalf? Not even a single fist pumped in the air nor a silently fainting groupie! A rapid inspection of his audience’s reactions painted an even worse picture for him. Shaky embarrassment, visible, panicky confusion and such an indifferent demeanour, it failed to pass as even underwhelming. Three out of three wrong. Tough crowd. However, he was not about to let the coldest reception he had received his whole career make him give up. He could turn this around. As he flipped a portable switch, a decades-old pre-recorded laughtrack obliterated the awkward silence, complete with clapping so muffled, the cat ears on one of his guests twisted in uncomfortably angular shapes. The prompt ‘APPLAUD’ appeared on the screen that took most of his body; and in turn, he received a round of deadpan, crispy claps from the fiery fellow who had let him in. An improvement already.

_“THAT’S RIGHT, LAUGH IT UP BEAUTIES! WELCOME TO ‘CARCASS CARE’, A SPECIAL, EXCLUSIVE, NOT FIT FOR BROADCAST SHOW IN WHICH ONE FORTUNATE PHANTASM–that’s you, darling-WILL GET SOME PERSONAL BOND-WITH-YOUR-BODY THERAPY FROM YOURS TRULY, THE STAR OF THE UNDERWORLD: METTATON!!! NOW, HOW ABOUT YOU TELL THE FOLKS AT HOME -who will not be watching this program, ever- HOW DO YOU FEEL?!”_ Confusion and silence still reigned across the kitchen. Shyren’s mortified expression very clearly displayed she had tried to prevent a vignette like this from the beginning. Maddington’s shocked grimace slowly began hinting disgust and offense, her integrity problem keeping her huffing and puffing. Once he was done applauding, Grillby walked out of the room in a single stride, the kitchen door uncomfortably squeaking. Mettaton was interrupted from playing another soundbite by Mad Mew Mew, barking to Shyren in a rather disappointed tone.

_“Well Shyren… after all that, I certainly was not expecting all of this to turn out to be a prank. You…you sure put up a convincing act there. I almost believed you really wanted to help me. Good one. I’ll just take my clothes and…”_ The feline spectre was one leg off the table when Shyren barged in front of her face, shaking her flippers in desperation.

_“No, no, no, no, no, Maddy, please, believe me!_ _He really can help you! Trust me!”_ Her thigh dangling on the board, the irate mannequin inspected both Shyren and her declared rival with a sceptical sneer. Jumping off the table, she energetically pointed her arm towards the automated artist. The tablecloth on her torso dangerously loosened, bringing Shyren a smidge closer to having two simultaneous heart attacks.

_“Yeah, RIGHT!! What would this stupid toaster on wheels know about my suffering? You just came here to laugh at me, didn’t you?!”_ The valves in Mettaton’s arms whirred as they extended in a theatrical shrug, a robotic ‘tut tut’ squawking out of his speaker.

_“YES. I CAME TO LAUGH AT YOU.”_ Maddy’s ire, very effectively portrayed in her fuming face, was doing a surprisingly effective job at helping her keep her form stable through the struggles. She reeled back, ready to sock Mettaton’s screen, but the whimpering Shyren managed to hold her back by the shoulders. Her sharp fangs shook and trembled with anger. _“INITIALLY. WHEN SHYREN TOLD ME YOU WERE TRYING TO BOND WITH A BODY FASHIONED AFTER ONE OF THOSE AWFUL CARTOON CHARACTERS, I THOUGHT YOU FINALLY HAD MANAGED TO FIND AN EVEN MORE TASTELESS BODY THAN ONE OF THOSE FEATURELESS DUMMIES. I WAS EXPECTING A GHASTLY SIGHT… BUT WITHOUT THAT AWFUL, GARISH GETUP, I SEE YOU HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE A REAL BEAUTY! LOOK AT YOU, COUSIN! YOU’RE STUNNING! ONE WOULD HARDLY RECOGNIZE YOU!”_ Shyren squeaked in desperation as she suppressed the seething Maddy from lunging fist-first into Mettaton. The separate joints and fragments of her body unstably jerking back and forth.

_“GARISH?! LISTEN, YOU JERK-BOX, IF YOU MAKE FUN OF MY AWESOME BATTLE COSTUME AGAIN I’LL- wait…”_ The mad mannequin’s ears twitched, her expression regaining some composure, paw still in the air. _“…Cousin? Why are you calling me that? Yes, I do have many cousins, and I might not know about all of them but… I think I’d remember if one of them was such a big junkpi-”_ She was shushed by Mettaton’s hand, which rudely elongated itself, dangerously close to her face.

_“YOU DO NOW! MADDINGTON, YOU’VE BEEN TALKING TO…”_ His screen buzzed, shifting from its usual checker patterned display to a pink, glittery spiral of hearts and sparkles. After a flashy, flamboyant dance around the screen, they rearranged themselves into a fuzzy fuchsia oval shape. The spectral cat-girl squinted and leaned closer, as the blob in the screen cleared, revealing itself as a ghost, not unlike her. Albeit, one with rather long eyelashes, and a much less intimidating demeanour. _“…me, dear cousin! Long time no see, my darling Maddington!”_ Every trace of buzzing or mechanical noise vanished from Mettaton’s voice as his spectral form was displayed on the screen. It was a good thing they were properly secured in the sockets of the Kissy Cutie doll, because the ghost girl feared her eyes might have bulged out of her body as she put two and two together.

_“Cousin Happenstance!”_ She hollered, the flamboyant apparition smiling as she clutched the screen between her paws, shaking his robot body with a flabbergasted expression. _“Last thing I heard of you from Blooky was that you up and left him alone… I can’t believe this! How… how did you find a body like this? Have…have you fused already?!”_ Happenstance’s projection nodded. His mechanical husk pretended to sway its hips, making the flaps on his nurse dress waggle.

_“Guilty as charged! But do not think even for a second I was spared my share of problems, sweetie… I too, wallowed for far too long in that very dark, slimy pit you’re in. Until a friend reached out… and I crawled out! Blasted out of that dismal hole into the starry stardom above!”_ His ghostly likeness vanished into his default display. He snapped his fingers with a firecracker-like clack, prompting Grillby to come in, bringing a mirror-plated folding screen onto the spacious kitchen. _“And so can you, Maddy! With that bombastic body combined with that bombacious personality you’re already a bombacular star in the making! You’re dainty! You’re peppy! You’re unstably emotional! I’d have to be blind to not see the marketable glint of stardom in those viridian beacons you have for eyes! Let us heal you!”_ Both he and Shyren joined in holding each of Maddy’s hands. She blushed, a hesitant but hopeful smile unravelling over her face. Despite all the emotions and revelations in such a short time, maintaining her shape took a smaller toll on her focus by the second. A tepid warmth noticeably emanated from her palms, indicating her spectral mass was solidifying all over her anatomy. This was the most in tune with the mannequin she had felt yet. As astonishing as this night was being… nothing had felt so right in a long time. This was the correct thing to do. It was worth a try.

_“You….you dummies… Thanks a lot, guys… Okay, I’ll do my best. What do you want me to do?”_ Mettaton’s finger cued a fuzzy, over enthusiastic canned ovation from his soundbite generator, a large, beating heart displayed on his screen.

_“And there you have it, beauties and gentlebeauty! Let’s do this thing! First off, focus on being yourself, Maddington! Never, for a minute doubt that gorgeous body is yours! Second, let’s remove that horrific piece of fabric off our sights! It just isn’t you!”_ With a single tug of his metallic, tube-like arms, he graciously flapped the tablecloth off Maddington. Only slightly blushing, the feline mannequin casually surveyed her bare arms and legs, still amazed at how well she was keeping herself together. Like a chemical reaction, Shyren’s mouth began to intensely fizzle, causing her to drop to the ground like a dead leaf.

_“Whoopsy daisy! This was supposed to be a family-friendly show… Oh well, like I always say: No shirt? No shoes? No problem! Let’s just take a look at those joints!”_ Maddy angrily chirped as Mettaton’s extendable claws snatched her forearms away, pressing them against his screen and looking through them around the room, as if they were spyglasses. Sighing through her cheeks, Mad Mew Mew patiently resisted the urge to scream a rude remark. She took into consideration the help he was providing, equally amazed at how little this disturbed her stability: even when vexed in such an irritating manner. When the robo performer seemed to have jiggled, shaken and inspected her pieces from every angle, he foppishly let go of them, and as if an invisible, airborne chain still held them to their body, they simply hovered into place. Maddy had barely had a chance to check her newly reformed arms when her cousin’s rectangular frame rammed right into her vision.

_“Eureka! It is just as I had thought. Worry not! You’re going to be fine, cousin. Okay, beauties, we have to cook! And fortunately… I’m packing heat!”_ Mettaton flipped his skirt upwards, revealing a garter-like gun belt strapped to his lower body, comically stretched by his angular anatomy. Several holsters lay all over its perimeter, a hair dryer securely fastened in each. He drew two of them and began to twirl them around, like revolvers with flailing plugs attached. _“Shyren! Firecracker! Catch!”_ He graciously flung the two heating devices through the air like plastic bolas. Grillby reacted with panther-like reflexes, eyes glistening beneath his glasses as he dashed towards a cupboard and slipped one of his fiery hands into an oven mitt. Carrying the same momentum, he leaped back into the hair dryer’s trajectory, elegantly catching it and rolling onto his knees. Maddy and Mettaton clapped, impressed. Shyren was not as fortunate, since she had just recovered from her fainting, the handle of the appliance simply socked her between the eyes and bouncing upwards. Luckily for her, her head still was numb from the quasi lethal embarrassment and she barely let out a coo in response, catching the hair dryer with her fins on its way down.

_“Ooww… w-what are these for, Metty?”_ She lamented. Grillby and Mettaton had already plugged theirs, so before receiving a response, the meek mermaid located an outlet, and was on her way to cork it with her connector.

_“I’m glad you asked, my beautiful Shyren! We’re going to grab the lovely slivers of my stunning cousin one by one, then warm her up, piece by piece! Get to it, beauties! Don’t be shy to start with your favourite one!”_ The metal-plated performer started up his hair dryer, theatrically cocking it. He settled for a thigh, which prompted an aggravated moan from its owner, and blew air throw every single possible angle of its surface; with precision that would have looked lecherous, had it been a little less efficient and mechanical. The beet red Shyren felt her teeth clatter and her head spin, dryer trembling in her fidgety fins. _‘This is for her. She needs this. This is for her. She needs this’_ She chanted to herself, but for some reason felt a primal urge to find Maddy’s padded chest piece before anyone else claimed it for her. An endeavour thwarted by Grillby, who was already nonchalantly flipping it within his kitchen mittens, dousing warm goodness all over it. Shyren silently stared at the burning dandy with a dead expression, passively caressing one of Maddington’s paws with the edge of her basking device. Mettaton stuck closer to his trembling cousin, who really looked as if she was having an awkward time, her ticklish body assaulted on three simultaneous fronts. A multitude of cat fang-filled grimaces wrestled for control over her lips, as her eyelids tried to open and close themselves with a continuous clatter. This was the result of a torrid sensation sweeping through her fragmented anatomy, down from her sensitive silicon skin to her ectoplasmic matter, firmly embedded into every corner of her husk. She felt as if every one of her slivers were being dipped into a warm bath, which was somehow gushing from their inside. As overwhelming as this all was, she could almost palpably feel her body coming together, part by part, the sprain on her mind steadily eased. Mettaton waved his palm before her eyes, and after noticing she failed to even blink, pinched her cheek to hold her attention. This did elicit a squint, although there barely were any further changes on her elated grimace.

_“Let me tell you what happened so you don’t have to go through it again, cousin.”_ He articulated, tugging his cousin’s squishy silicone cheek so hard, the sharp fangs inside peeked out. _“You see, turns out you have a surprisingly complex body. You’re made of layers of several materials, silicone, plastics, cotton… and even some circuitry. Fascinating stuff! Well, unfortunately for you, some of your inner plating has contracted due to the cold, and your joints are all lose. So… even if you were so in tune with your body you were ready to fuse, you’d still fall to pieces in this state. You simply stayed out in the cold without proper insulation for too long. You might be made of plastic, but you have to take care of your body like any other monster would… hmmm…more on that later! How are we doing, beauties? Almost done?”_ As he monologued to his overwrought cousin, Shyren and Grillby had been working almost as diligently as him, most of the disunited catgirl’s body reconstructed before the mirror. Seeing herself so whole, and feeling so right… she had never been so determined to piece herself together. Eyes closed, she stood proud and blissful with her hands on her hips, a distinct purring sound escaping her chest. Shyren let go of the last part, the mannequin’s tail, which wriggled out of her flippers, wobbling through the void like an airborne eel. Struggling to not allow her humiliating hot sweats make her black out, she nodded to Mettaton with a hum, as did Grillby. _“Ah, fabulous then! Now it’s time to let the pieces fall into their place! Make her whole!”_ Mad Mew Mew’s eyes opened, the vague sensation her attention was demanded awakening her from her pleasurable trance.

_“Hmm? What do you mean, HappenstaAAAAAAAAHmnhh-!”_ Moaned Maddy, as without a warning, Shyren and Grillby had simultaneously attached both of the ball joints of her shoulders to her torso. The sensation she felt was neither painful nor distressing, in fact, a tepid tingle filled her reunited parts to their very core, like an electric shock made of wholeness. This incredibly sudden and overtaking shiver was understandably too abrupt to bear without a proper indication. She huffed and stomped with her foot, sporting a flushing, flustered chagrin. _“HEY! D-don’t just do th-AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHMMGHG-!“_ Like a vampire slayer obliterating his prey with two stakes, Mettaton had driven Maddy’s ankles into her feet, the toes of which quivered. The smug grin on his screen was almost visible, despite it displaying nothing in particular. The phantom feline did not even attempt to voice another complaint, simply emitting a manic cackle-like whine with such a wide, off-balance smile, Shyren’s mouth dried with an uneasy mix of guilt and eagerness to continue.

_“C’mon, darlings, we have to make sure the heat spreads evenly! Strike while the iron’s hot!”_ With a mechanical grunt with barely any mechanical qualities at all, Mettaton elevated his cousin’s feet into her thighs, assembling her legs. Meanwhile, in an amazing display of improvised coordination, Shyren and Grillby plugged her paws forward, embedding part after part with their push alone, her arms completed in a cinch. The rapidly rebuilding Maddy was accompanying the whole process with a symphony of muffled grumbles, struggling to keep her mouth shut and clinging to any part of herself she could grasp. A soothing sensation was quickly spreading through her system, the stress of having to extend her spectral mass through her gaps hastily relieved. Her quivering, hovering feet found themselves slowly compelled to land on the ground once Mettaton pulled her legs joints into her hips; which jerked forward as Grillby did the best he could to attach her tail to his buttock in a dignified way. It was a decent attempt. Mettaton took a step back, lifting his dress in a lady-like bow, dedicated to Shyren. Maddington’s hovering, huffing head was all that remained to be secured to her body.

_“Shyren darling, may you do the honors?”_ The mousy mermaid cleared her throat, swimming her way to the back of Maddy’s head, then held her cheeks tightly, slowly descending towards her neck. She let out a sheepish giggle, ruffling her pink hair.

_“I told you everything was going to be okay, Maddy…”_ She whispered into her twitching, fuzzy ear. More than ever in her whole life, the mad ghost within felt balanced. Not like lashing in an all-out anger barrage, not like desperately bawling, not even like bursting into crazed laughter. She simply strived to treasure this newfound comfort as much as she could. Reaching up, she helped Shyren lower her own head into the neck by grabbing her fins and delicately tugging them down. The ball joint clacked with a soft, deliberate snap, finally making the Kissy Cutie dummy whole. Still, the pair kept their hands together for some time, eyes closed, temples meeting, not a single word spoken.

Mettaton completely trampled over the heart-warming scene by triggering a pre-recorded ‘Awwww’ soundbite. Even Grillby looked over his shoulder, visibly peeved.


	4. Tightened

Maddy gave her reflection a look of thoughtful concentration. She twirled her shoulders and hips to survey her undocked anatomy, scrutinizing every corner of her freshly clothed body. A rather large ponytail, kept in place by the remaining bell hairclip, wobbled along her every move. Her feline paws adorably peeked out of the oversized, baggy sleeves of the fluffy MTT brand fuchsia sweater she was wearing, a cutesy effigy of her cousin’s rectangular face embroidered in its chest. One of her dainty legs slightly hoisted her long, black wool skirt from within, revealing one of two lime-coloured bolt-adorned MTT stockings, as well as her lanky brown boots. Her tail poked out of a flap in her skirt, occasionally twitching, much like her pointy ears. The choice of brand’s slightly demeaning effect aside, the spectral feline mannequin was having a hard time believing her eyes. She was too afraid to pinch herself and wake up back on the frozen riverbed, so she simply turned around to revel on this dream turned reality, facing her possibly imaginary friends with a bashful blush.

 _“So… how does it look?”_ Shyren covered her mouth, breathtaken. Mettaton’s arms, crossed several times in a knot, nodded along his flat surface. Any of them appeared ready to voice their opinion, but the sound of Grillby clearing his throat in a bang-like cough interrupted them.

 _“You look very cute, Maddy.”_ He affirmed in a pleasantly masculine, quasi-baritone timbre, ‘thumbs up’ firmly upheld. Everybody’s eyes bulged out for a second, but the commendable, wholesome remark touched their hearts, prompting an amiable chuckle on Shyren and Mettaton, and a silly giggle, complete with elated face and timid head scratch on Maddington.

 _“He’s right, Maddy! You…you look lovely!”_ Cooed Shyren, quite flustered on her own, seemingly having trouble keeping her eyes on her new friend. Mettaton shot imaginary bullets out of his gloves, shooting quite non-imaginary slogans in her cousin’s direction.

 _“He IS right, Maddy! MTT Brand clothing™ would make even the frumpiest monster look at least 200% dreamier! Guaranteed to insulate you from every sort of hazardous weather and coming in all sizes and shapes, these fashionable fabrics are fully customizable via our newly released MTT Brand clothing app™! Add flaps for tails, fins, tentacles and other appendages with a simple to-“_ Mettaton was no dullard. He could read an audience, and he did read the meaning of the miffed glare on his cousin’s face, loud and clear. Even with all the help he had provided, her favour was bound to run out if he pushed it too far. Tapping the lower part of his screen with his fist and clearing his throat, he imagined a compliment would be in order, given his cousin had, in fact, genuinely surpassed his expectations. _“…bottom line being… Maddington, dear. You do look dazzling. See what you can accomplish once you realize your potential? You were just holding yourself back by refusing to discard those awful clothes! Oh and, erhm, also freezing yourself to the ground.”_ Maddy’s frown was replaced by a smug smile, albeit a gentle, playful one.

 _“Don’t get a big head, now. You haven’t made me see the light or anything. I’m still going to use my battle clothes sometimes, and you know… I had always wanted to…”_ She spun around, following her the mirror with her eyes all the way, trying her hardest not to giggle like a child. _“…wear nice clothes. But they feel so much better when you actually have limbs to fill them all the way. And it was nice of you to give me some. So… thank you, Happ- nah, Mettaton. I’ll take great care of this body.”_ The robot’s plating vigorously shook as he nodded.

 _“That’s the spirit! And if you ever have trouble with your body again… there’s someone I want you to pay a visit to. She can patch you up! Not to mention you might have…well… needlessly worried her by abducting your own body. Perhaps I can introduce her to you next Tuesday? I’m sure she’ll be…”_ Mettaton covered his speaker, muffling a devious chuckle. _“…thrilled to see you looking like that.”_ Maddy cringed back, suddenly appearing rather nervous, as if she had just remembered something very important.

 _“Oh… oh-OH! I FORGOT! I…I took this body from… oh no…”_ She briefly stuttered, Shyren supportively holding her shoulders upon noticing her distress. Intending to ease her worries, her cousin dismissively waved his hands.

 _“Fret not, she’s not going to want your body back, darling. I’ve already… had a persuasive talk with her. She even gave me your blueprints! …Well, a handcrafted version of them at least. That’s odd. But nonetheless! She has to take a look at you. We can do it over tea!”_ Maddy and Shyren sighed and grinned at each other, equally surprised and pleased of Mettaton’s warm offer; thinking he really must have trusted that friend of his.

 _“Yes, let’s. We have a lot of catching up to do, too. You can tell me what you’ve been up to all this time, before I can go back to thinking of you as a rival, of course!”_ Chirped, Maddy, giving him a fang-filled smirk. Mettaton shook his surface and turned around, arms behind his rear plate.

 _“Actually, cousin, about that… I have a different proposal for you. Listen. How do you plan on making a living?”_ Mad Mew Mew’s ears flattened against her head as she pensively stroke her chin.

 _“Well… I don’t want to go back to the farm. So after today, I was thinking I could-“_ She flinched at the sight of Mettaton turning around and nearly sticking his accusing index finger inside her eye.

 _“Easy mistake to make! You cannot be expected to simply walk into show business and make it grand! You need to start smaller, work your way up, learn more about life… because look at what happened to you.”_ As if picturing himself under a spotlight amidst a dark stage, Mettaton dramatically gave his back to Maddy yet again. _“I don’t know what you were doing, but you were wandering around in the snow for so long, you almost ruined your dreams forever. You need some learning, some life experience and some much needed guidance! So! Come enrol in my brand new MTT acting drama school emporium! I’ll even give you a 50% discount if you work part time in my MTT-Brand burger emporium, and if-!”_ When Mettaton turned around for the second time, he was greeted to Grillby and his cousin shaking hands.

 _“Oh, so you can even lend me a room and give me a salary? Only for slicing some stuff for you? Thanks, Grillby, you’ve got yourself a kitchen helper! I’ll do my best!”_ Both of them appeared beaming in their own way. More than anything, Grillby really appreciated Maddy had repeated their arrangement out loud, as he hated talking more than was required of him. Mettaton’s wheel began rapidly spinning in place and screeching, slowly bending his completely still body backwards. Shyren held her yapper, trying her best not to burst into laughter. As Mad Mew Mew patted her smouldering sponsor’s shoulder, she turned to her cousin with a roguish grin.

 _“Relax, cousin! I’ll take you up in that drama school offer, at least. Don’t worry… you’ll get SOME of my money. But there’s no way in hell I’m going to be your underling.”_ She snickered. The tin-plated tycoon recoiled back straight, an ‘OK’ gesture on both his mitts.

 _“Deal! You won’t regret it, cousin!”_ Maddy forcefully shook Mettaton’s hand, grinning, topping their handshake with an energetic shoulder pat. She ran off after a call to attention from Grillby, who wished to give her a quick tour of the kitchen. As the robotic performer tended to his aching claw, Shyren hovered to his side, giving him a peck in one of his flanks.

 _“Thank you so much, Metty… you did something wonderful today. Look at how happy she is…”_ The meek mermaid stared misty-eyed at the overjoyed Maddy, who drooled over Grillby’s knife rack with grabby fingers and a manic chagrin. Mettaton wrapped his arm around Shyren’s back.

 _“Me? I barely did a thing, beautiful! It was all you. Even if I had been able to bring her body back from total destruction, I would have been of no help if she had no hope. We ghosts are emotion-based creatures, and her emotions… were quite out of control from what you’ve told me. However, if our soul is in good shape, we can make it through everything and everyone, and that’s where you’ve made a huge difference. You pulled her out of the gutter, helped her believe in herself, kept her going… It is you who ought to be thanked. Because for as much as I love my cousin, she’s always had… trouble balancing her emotions. She can be really destructive, as you might have seen. But a gentle, generous soul to keep her from slipping… not unlike you, is what she has always needed the most, dear. Don’t you give me that blush. Thanks for being there for her, Shyren. Thanks for saving my cousin. Thank you from the bottom of my soul.”_ Shyren glanced aside, an earnest smile poking from beneath her fringe. She truly was unsure how to deal with this much praise.

 _“It was… it was nothing! I could not just leave her there… heheh… why am I so happy?”_ Mettaton scratched one of his corners, as if trying to surmise something from her singer’s even shyer than usual demeanour. The noticeable trouble she had looking at her cousin straight in the eyes, all that fainting and gurgling, how she clung to her paws… A pixelated light bulb displayed on his screen, as quite the devilish idea occurred to him.

 _“Well, I know what you can do to help her further! Listen here, darling…”_ Mettaton bent over and lifted Shyren’s hair to whisper something.

As Grillby was being scolded by his new scullery maid on account of _‘Bending the damn paring knife’s tip!’_ , Shyren hovered up to the emerald-eyed catdoll, tapping her shoulder politely. She turned around, leaning into the candid fish, giving her an equally candid smile.

 _“Yes, Shyren?”_ The skittish naiad held Maddy’s paws as tightly as she could, hovering up to her now blushing face.

 _“Maddy!”_ Like the world’s wobbliest torpedo, she catapulted herself towards Mad Mew Mew’s feline face, fusing their lips in a warm embrace. She trembled and hovered erratically, pressing herself against the life-sized action figure’s soft, velvety cheeks, eyes passionately closed. In contrast, the phantom catgirl remained completely still like the statue she, in essence was; her eyes bulging out as open as they possibly could. Shyren reeled back with a gentle coo, smiling warmly into her flustered friend’s deep green windows. _“I…I…I’m with you all the way, Maddy! You can count on me for everything! If you ever need me, I’ll be there for you!”_

On this night, Maddington had experienced some unprecedented warmth and comfort, there was no doubt about that. However, something even warmer and even more reassuring was awakening inside her. During this short but extremely meaningful trial, something had kept her going. Something she was having major trouble putting her finger on. Even if her body had somehow ended up grinded to dust, there was a thought that gave her solace. The fact that day she had gained something even more valuable than this body, than any body. Something that, should the worst have happened, might have still made her life worth living. Her appreciation for this thing filled the inside of her current body with pulses that, for any other being, would have been compared to beautiful, fluttering insects. She longed to see this thing as much as she could, to hold and protect it tightly, to give it back even a fraction of all the appreciation it had given her. Now, she had been tightly clutching this thing for quite some time.

And she had kissed it.

Maddy’s body, which had been violently clattering for a good minute, fell to pieces on the ground, reducing her to a pile of trembling parts and clothes. The panicking Shyren was left holding her disembodied paws. Alarmed, she yelped for Mettaton’s aid.

 _“Metty! Metty! It didn’t work! She’s falling apart again! Come help her, please!”_ The automated scoundrel shrugged, making a mental note of her cousin’s weakness: fish.

 _“Darling, you’ve got it backwards. It worked too well. She’ll be fine.”_ The confused Shyren pulled down the neck of the MTT brand sweater, finding Maddy’s disembodied, beet-red face, a mystified smile plastered over it. Her hands leaped out of Shyren’s flippers, landing straight on the catgirl’s eyes, whose body fragments wiggled, drooling in bliss.

As shocked as she still was, Shyren had to reluctantly agree. That was the expression of someone who was going to be fine.

 

**Epilogue 1**

 

The pleasant night breeze was barely enough to gently tug at Snowdin’s pine tree branches, failing to even budge most of them at all.  If not for the seemingly permanent layer of snow that lay on the road, one would have barely even noticed this was Snowdin from its agreeable temperature; perfect for a refreshing, soothing walk. On such a carefree night, after having spent most of their time with fun outdoor activities, most of the town’s inhabitants had gathered on Grillby’s, the bustling pub teeming with its usual patrons and some new faces. Food, drink and laughter was what had brought them there as usual, but a recent development in Grillby’s staff had piqued the curiosity of many customers, eager to try that new-fangled ‘stew’; that fancy human dish that was all the rage lately. The royal guard in almost its entirety awaited for the mouth-watering serving making small talk, their tails wagging in unison. The Librarby and newpaper staff discussed the vetoing on their ban of human books in their library, albeit only cooking ones. Two customers happened to cross the doorframe at the same time. The first, a fluffy-eared and swirly-eyed monster; the second sporting a bizarre creature sporting a cavernous mouth filled with dagger-like fangs. The lagomorphic patron barged in front of the other, announcing her presence to the world with an almost disturbingly peppy voice:

 _“Grillby_ _~!_ _Tell Maddy to slice me one of those imitation turkey sandwiches while you pour me something strong_ _~!”_ She chanted, as the fellow with the enormous guzzler walked forwards, crassly clearing his  throat with a raspy, if strangely polite and sophisticated inflection.

_“I’ll just have today’s soup, please. And if there’s any left after that, I’ll have it to go._

_”_ Reaching for his beverage counter, Grillby nodded and inhaled, as if about to repeat what he had just heard; but the sound of the kitchen window unfastening itself, pushed by a gloved cat paw interrupted him. Out peeked Mad Mew Mew, ears bulging out of her mid-sized kitchen hat that restrained the entirety of her hair. Her fluffy black apron wobbled against the window frame, her mitt still resting on the window shutter.

 _“I got it, I got it, I got it! I heard them just fine, Grilbs. And the stew’s almost ready! I made a little extra tonight, but only one bowl per customer, okay? Alright, on it!”_ She seemingly began to walk backwards, her torso slowly rotating itself in the kitchen table’s direction, and soon after did her head. She reached for her freshly cleaned chef knife, twirling it in her hand against every safety rule, whistling a ghost-fighting tune. On the kitchen fire, an enormous pot bubbled, a delectable (by monster food standards) smell wafting out. Lettuce, tomatoes and onions were close by her cutting board, a mainstay of many of the sandwiches Grillby offered, and so were several rather oddly coloured meats. Despite their adequate taste and texture, a human would have described their glittery sheen as ‘putty-like’. After pushing some bread into the heavy-duty toaster, Maddy removed the lid off the large pot, scooping a sip with her wooden tasting spoon. Her sensitive cat tongue licked her lips, tingling with the exquisite savory taste her expertly sliced morsels had brought to the warm, hearty dish. All those kitchen fires and sleepless nights knuckling down through those human cookbooks Mettaton’s friend lent her had paid off in spades. She had finally managed to get the taste down consistently. Just as she turned off the heat and let the lid rest aside to let the soup cool, the toaster ejected the bread slices out; which she took as a prompt to lower the French fry tray she had readied.

Grillby’s knock on the window interrupted her from pouring the first bowlful of stew. Ladle still in hand, she barged out of the window frame again, slightly aggravated. _“It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s com-!“_ She followed her boss’ fiery finger, which revealed Shyren to her. She was waving at the feline cook trainee with a cheerful smile, which Maddy was promptly infected with. She bore a purse and brought two snobby-looking friends along: a snobbish-looking clam person and a fluffy canine monster with red high heels.

 _“Hello, Maddy! Hope you have enough for me and my friends tonight!”_ Maddington leaned forward out of the frame until her torso stuck out, her dopey smile looking ready to melt out of her face.

 _“Shyren! H-how’d your show go? I-I’m sorry I couldn’t be there, Grillby needed me to watch the fryers, it was a madhouse over here!”_ Grillby’s keen sense of smell detected the faint odour of slightly overcooked fries, sending him dashing to the kitchen, rightly predicting his cook was going to remain distracted. Shyren took notice of the minor disturbance she had caused, not entirely unfamiliar with the fire hazards caused by the ghostly catdoll so far.

“I-it went fine, Maddy, but please, you still have work to do... let’s talk about it over dinner!” The Mew Mew mannequin’s upper body clacked out of her waist, hovering forwards for a short distance, its owner fluttering with enthusiasm.

 _“D-dinner? Today?! I’d love to! Heheh…”_ Shyren’s friends cringed back as her head turned 180 degrees to face the kitchen. “YO, GRILLBS! Can I have my lunch break once we give everyone their stew? Can you work for the two for half an hour?” It didn’t take Grillby much thought to agree, appreciating how easier his hot-blooded new aide and her steadfast cutting skills had made his job. He sent an ‘ok’ gesture her direction, shaking the excess oil of the fries into the fryer. Seeing him with so much undone work around him gave Maddy the determination to fulfil her duties as rapidly as she could, as did her unyielding fervor to sit down and share a hot bowl of soup with her precious friend. She returned the gesture to her boss, her head rotating back towards Shyren. _“S-sure! I’ll be done before you know it! Be right back!”_ The same motion that made her torso joint click in place reeled her back into the kitchen, Grillby already having readied five bowls for the Royal Guard’s servings.

Shyren beamed, taking an adorable little padded box out of her purse. She timidly opened its cover and peeked inside, revealing a reproduction of one of Mew Mew’s bell-shaped hairclips, handcrafted over the last weeks. One of her friends confronted her, peeking over her head.

 _“Say, Shyren. Who was that person? Was that not one of those abominable characters from those awful human moving pictures?”_ The clam person gossiped. Her gentler, fuzzier companion leaned in, heels clacking with each step.

 _“I heard that’s that quarrelsome clothes dummy that used to haunt the Waterfall dump! How exciting for you to be friends with such a dangerous person!”_ Shyren shut the box, giggling.

 _“Uh-huh! You’re both wrong… She’s neither of those things.”_ Her friends raised their eyebrows in unison, inquisitive. “She’s just… Maddy!”

 

**Epilogue 2**

 

The sound of Maddington and Shyren’s chipper laughter echoed through Grillby’s almost always vacant terrace. Now that Shyren’s friends were busy courting the hunkiest members or the royal guard, the pair was sharing a pair of steaming, invigorating bowls of stew by themselves. A heater stand provided some comforting, appreciated light and torridness. Thanks to her friend’s gift, Maddy’s hair had been reconstructed to its original style, her pigtails wobbling along her head’s jouncing. The weather was so gentle, the red and green plaid sweater she had been wearing beneath her apron, coupled with her short denim skirt and black wooly stockings were enough to insulate her from the cold. As soon as Shyren’s high pitched giggling died down and gave her a chance to breathe, she took hold of her spoon, gently scooping some broth off her dish into her maw. Mad Mew Mew snickered through her paw, raising her index finger to gesticulate, on with her story.

 _“So then the teacher says…“_ Maddy puffed up and assumed a snooty expression, imitating her drama teacher’s high-pitched inflection. _“-Now, boys and girls! I want you to hold your plastic skulls with emotion! Feel the loss of your jester friend!- and get this! I was like…”_ As if rolling a carpet in front of her, she extended her thick sleeve in front of her face. Her head detached from her neck and rolled down with an unmoving, dead look on her eyes; expertly caught by her paw at the end. _“But ma’am, I already brought my own!!”_ Shyren reeled back, howling with laughter, the spectral catdoll making the bowls clatter with her table slams as she gritted a chortle through her fangs. _“Hahah… we had to call the nurse to help her come to… aaaahh…that was fun…”_ Her head jumped back on her neck, elbows on the table. Shyren wiped tears out of her eyes, still holding some chortles back.

 _“Hehe…heheh…I’m glad you’re having fun, Maddy… I’m so happy for you.”_ She had another spoonful, amazed at how much of her life her friend had made in such a short period of time. Maddington simply wobbled her head to the sides, candidly gazing at the modest mermaid.

 _“Thank you… and how about you? How was your-“_ She was interrupted by Grillby’s back door opening, someone having barged in unannounced.

 _“Oh, Maddy, deary_ _~_ _!”_ The pair tilted their heads in the direction of the high-pitched, impish, almost sultry voice. Bearing a rather oversized-looking coat, a lanky, feminine figure with six slender arms and five beautiful eyes had invited herself into the terrace. She was holding a steaming bowl of stew in a tray with two of her claws, and an adorable spider web-patterned purse on another. _“Sorry to invite myself like this, but I just HAD to check after you today! It’s the only day the horrid weather here agreed with me… ahuhuhu_ _~!”_ She sat herself besides Maddy, patting her shoulder with a mischievous smile. The possessed cat doll stared at the spider, in wide-eyed, awkward horror, an uneasy feeling on her gut.

 _“Oh-OH! He-hello, Muffet! I was… I was not expecting you…”_ A single sideways glance to Shyren filled the deepest parts of the ghost’s spectral mass with unspeakable dismay and dread. Those dead, unmoving eyes were the last thing she had expected to see in the bashful naiad. They were deeply unnerving her. Muffet’s voice boisterously yet daintily broke the icy, awkward ambience.

 _“Don’t mind me, I just can’t stay away from those fluffy, ticklish ears of yours too long!”_ She crowed, noticing Shyren in front of them. “And what an adorable little friend you have here~! How are you doing, dearie? I’m Muffet! What’s your name?” Shyren’s stony visage flashed the bluntest stare it was capable of.

 _“My name is Shyren. Pleased to meet you.”_ She coldly blurted. The millisecond glare she shot at Maddy managed to carry an incredible amount of information and complex emotions, taking into account its austere deadness. _‘WHO THE HECK IS THIS?!’_ Was probably the loudest message among the cacophony of silent screams.

In turn, the desperate, wide-eyed grimace Mad Mew Mew responded with, carried a single, desperate tune: _‘SHE’S JUST A FRIEND I SWEAR’_. Muffet tended one of her hands in Shyren’s direction.

 _“Charmed! Hope Maddington here is not filling your life with too much excitement for you to bear, dearie! Ahuhuhu_ _~!_ _Oh, by the way, Maddikins… I don’t have any cash on me, so I told Grillby to add this to your tab as usual._ _H_ _ope the tea I brought is enough for you to forgive me!”_ Like a shark stalking its prey, Shyren fixated her glacial eyes on the thermos the jovial Muffet held up.

Maddy repeatedly pinched her elbow. The possibility of waking up from a several month-long dream back in the frozen riverbed seemed like the only realistic way out of this plight.


End file.
